Mr. Men Little Miss (franchise)
The Mr. Men and Little Miss are a childrensbook series franchise by Roger Hargreaves that came to be in 1971 and 1981 respectively. "Mr. Men" and "Little Miss" are two separate trademarks that together form the Mr. Men Little Miss Franchise. Mr. Men and Little Misses as a "species" are anthropomorphic interpretations of (human) reflexes, bodily attributes, personality traits and in a few cases something fantastical. The first Mr. Man created, Mr Tickle, was prompted by Adam Hargreaves asking his father, Roger Hargreaves, what a "tickle" would look like. Gradually the character concept went less abstract to personifications of human traits. History Roger Hargreaves passed away in 1988 in Tunbridge Wells, Kent from a stroke. His son Adam Hargreaves and his daughter Amelia Beddoe have continued the franchise. Adam writes and draws new stories, while Amelia takes care of the management.Roger Hargreaves on Lambiek.net After his death, his son Adam Hargreaves, reluctantly, continued drawing and later writing the Mr. Men and Little Miss characters with new stories while signing the covers in his father's signature. It was statedTelegraph, article by Katy Hastings 10/02/2008 he was put on the task to "ensure they remain faithful to the original version". This is however based on nothing but family/blood ties as Adam had never written children's stories and had little interest in it and ironic as not all Little Misses and Mr. Men are by the Hargreaves. Adam took over somewhere in 2000, his first creations being Mr. Cool and Little Miss Scary. The documentation and crediting of the works published in the ten years in between is rather vague. In 1990 a rich collection of new Mr Men and Little Miss characters were added. Supposedly they were in a concept, nearly finished and/or needed some final polishing before publication that Roger has left for others to mend to. Whoever who would have done that was not credited. However, the French library credits three particular artists; Writer Viviane Cohen, Evelyne Lallemand (translator) and illustrator Collete David are credited for the concept, scenario, text and illustrations. With this crediting, specifically "concept", which are the most raw beginnings of a creation, there is no clear reason to assume that Roger was involved with the creation of the 1990's characters at all, regardless the use of his signature. What is surely fact is that Roger had even less to do with the creation of the "French Exclusive Library characters", made by the exact same trio of French creators and released in the exact same year, and, also made use of Roger's signature. These "French" characters were and are still not added within the 'official Rogers' library. The reasoning for this is unclear but one is to assume the motive to be the more obvious lack of involvement of Roger, which affects the "authenticity" of the brand. In April 2004 Hargreaves's widow Christine sold the rights to the Mr. Men characters to the UK entertainment group Chorion, for £28 million. In December 2011, Chorion went bankrupt and sold the rights to the Mr. Men and Little Miss characters to Sanrio, known for its many mascot brands, especially Hello Kitty. To this day, Sanrio, under the name THOIP in the UK, holds the rights to the franchise. In October 2015, Sanrio revealed the prototypes of what would become Mr. Marvelous, Little Miss Sparkle, Little Miss Fabulous and Mr. Adventure.Note that Marvelous was still spelled "Marve'll'ous", which is the UK spelling. Adventure was firstly "Adventure'r'" They were all released throughout the course of 2016. Localization The Mr. Men are particularly popular in the United Kingdom, France, Greece, United States and Japan. While the timeline of content is spread, it lived its high days in the 80s/90s, where the classic library was translated and published in 25 different countries. France France played a huge role in placing the franchise where it now stands. Viviane Cohen, Evelyne Lallemand, Collete David provided France with exclusive stories of the Roger created characters, added thirteen new characters to the Classic Library (9 Little Misses, 4 Mr. Men) and added a whole new range of characters (9 Little Misses, 2 Mr. Men) exclusive to the French library. Even with the admirable gain in Little Misses, not even the French Exclusive Library has managed to get to an equal ratio of Mr. Men and Little Misses. Some exclusive French content made its way to be published in Greece as well. In 1995, Mr. Men and Little Miss, the first actual cartoon was made in France. It even shown a few French Exclusive characters. (Prim, Crosspatch) In 2008, The Mr. Men Show, produced in the US, featured Mr. Rude as a xenophobic French stereotype. In both the US as UK, voice actor sharing Mr. Rude and Mr. Scatterbrain kept their French and New York accent respectively. Despite above issue, The Mr. Men Show had its own related publications of two exclusive French books, Mr. Tickle and the Ghosts and Miss Chatterbox and the Prince. Sweden In Sweden, Anders Glenmark created the album Gubben Lycklig Och Hans Vänner in 1981, which was the very first music album ever released in the franchise. Controversy After doing well as children's fiction as a basis, nowadays it's not much more than a brand that keeps afloat on nostalgia. Fiction not made by Hargreaves -for as far the public knows of it- is met with criticism and a reluctant attitude towards change. Therefor, changes are hard to make and do not last either. Little Miss "Plump" - One example of a change that was made and stayed was Little Miss Plump being renamed Little Miss Greedy. "Plump" was considered offensive as it focuses so much on the result of the habit instead of the habit itself, this of course tied to her being a female character being named after how she looks. "Little Miss" title - An ongoing discussion is the use of the "Little Miss" title. It is deemed sexist as it is belittling. Both the "Mr. noun" as "Little Miss noun" is used as language to speak to a child acting difficult and is thus referred to with adult terms. Unlike "Mr." that only become belittling with the noun following, "Little Miss" on itself is belittling simply due to the "Little". The discussion is unlikely to meet a conclusion as the copyright and trademark of the Little Misses's lies in that title, even if it is generic. THOIP/Sanrio tried to sue Disney for using "Little Miss X" on their merchandise but lost due to there being no infringement on the English Language itself On top of that, the nostalgic side of the fanbase is very reluctant to see any change happen even if it is change for the better. "Mx. Person" - Further on titles is the request to add characters with the "Mx." title. Adam Hargreaves said that it is "difficult" to explain a child gender variation as such and thus not feeling the need to challenge the child's awareness on that matter, assuming as well the gender diversity is not relevant to the child's experience. Therefore, if it is up to Adam, it will not happen. Considering his attitude, the nostalgic traditional following's attitude and the immense trouble to "outsource" work written by a non-Hargreaves, it might not be considering and happen any time soon. Mr. Nosey's design - One of the more difficult designs in the franchise is Mr. Nosey. For art, animation and merchandise it is a tricky design to work with and even Roger himself already simplified the design later on. This design made his belly protrude more and his nose a bit shorter and rounder but still ever so long. The Mr. Men Show performed many redesigns but most prominently was Mr. Nosey, who, design and context wise, was combined with both Mr. Greedy as Mr. Nosey. However, journalists read this change as 'political correct'; The specific focus on his nose, the shape of his nose and the green colour all allude to an anti-semitic caricature even if nothing contextual of Nosey refers it to be as such. It is important to note that the only documentation of questioning the classic design came from people mocking a controversy they themselves brought to surface. French xenophobia - The Mr. Men Show, produced in the US, featured Mr. Rude as a xenophobic French stereotype. In both the US as UK, voice actor sharing Mr. Rude and Mr. Scatterbrain kept their French and New York accent respectively. While the French themselves more or less side-eyed this, the UK media stressed the fact by contacting the French embassy in London about it. While articles claim Mr. Rude is the only foreign accent having character, such is not true for either the US or the UK dub. The US has Mr. Stubborn as Nigerian and Mr. Bounce as Indian. The UK has Mr. Fussy as German and kept Scatterbrain as a New Yorker, making him "foreign" to the UK public as well. However, the choice of all other voices are only mildly in context of the characters while Mr. Rude had various references to being French, such as reading a book depicting the Eiffel Tower, wearing a beret or saying "I do not give a croissant". Chorion commented "it is not meant to cause offense but the English view of the French lacking a little politeness is well known." Telegraph, article by Katy Hastings 10/02/2008 Notes and citations :References :Notes Category:Browse